Tomorrow we are Homeward Bound

On Monday morning the caravan will be leaving for northwestern PA & western NY. Bill & I, daughter Renee & grandsons Nick & Noah will be heading home.

This is just a short note to tell you all that we are doing fine. We want you all to pray hard that the weather will change & be nice for the next couple of weeks in PA! Especially over the 4th. Since we aren't use to having that many occupants in the 5th wheel, we pray for good weather so the kids can experience the outdoor weather & fun.

Pictures will follow as I'm writing this on my daughter's PC.

So, until next time.................The Traveling Cardinal's

Another State Closer to Home

We left Virginia Beach around 9am on Wed. & headed for Maryland. We decided to take the "road less traveled" instead of the Interstate. We made pretty good time considering you have to stop for all the traffic lights until you get out of the main towns on Route 17 heading toward Fredericksburg, VA. But it is a pretty ride.

As we were heading out on Interstate 264 toward Norfolk, we came upon this convoy of we are assuming National Guardsman. They were all pretty friendly, we tooted & waved & gave each other the "thumbs up". Sure was better than driving by & not acknowledging them!!!!This is one of the big commercial ships in the bay right before we crossed through the Hampton Tunnel in Norfolk, VA. Bill didn't realize he got the guys working on the bridge until we downloaded the pictures.

One of my most favorite trees in Virginia is the Crepe Myrtle. They look so much like a lilac tree but there is no smell to the flower. Some are the most beautiful dark fuchsia color. These were a lighter pink. Several white ones are planted along the roadways where the roads are divided.

Now we are going around Washington, DC!!! Is there a recession going on???? Did anyone tell those people in Washington??? Snookie, I want you to know, this was our "going down the road" picture of the day. In fact, it was so bad, we drove (I mean crawled) in this for 1-1/2 hrs. Bill hates this, so at one point when we were stopped, he said "change drivers" & we did, right there in the road! It's a wonder we weren't arrested!

We finally made it to the campground around 5:45pm. We called Renee when we were exiting Interstate 95 & she followed us in to the campground. The kids got to watch us set up, unhitch & put out the slides. They wanted to help. I gave them each jobs to do & they thought that was just great. When we asked them to stay back & what not to touch, they were really good. So as a reward, we all went to Cracker Barrel to eat. They were really good & ate good too. I think they are afraid to misbehave or they won't get to go home with us & go camping!

After supper we came back to the trailer for a little bit & Renee could get her car. This is daughter, Renee.

Grandson, Nicholas (the shy one)

Grandson, Noah (the huggie one)

On Thursday (today) we had an appointment to get the truck inspected in PA. It's about 1-1/2 hrs. from here so we took everyone with us. They have a waiting room that is set up just for kids to play in so that helped time go faster for them.

The bill wasn't so great - time to change oil, transmission fluid, filters, etc. Brakes were good & we had just put 6 new tires on, so that was okay. At least we know it's done & paid for, for the next 6,000 miles!

We took the kids to McDonald's, then on the way home we stopped at Renee's mother-in-laws house to see her. She had fallen & sprained her ankle about 3 wks. ago, but she is doing better. Slow but sure. Her daughter, Nikki lives in a trailer next to her & has a boarding stable for horses. One of the horses had just had a colt 3 weeks ago. Cute. The spotted horse (pony) in the front is Hunter's & his cousins. Poor horses had to have their eyes covered to keep the flies off. This was the smallest manure spreader I'd ever seen!

Noah with horse in the stable.

Nicholas with another horse in stable.

We came back to Renee & Tom's to make supper & then after Tom left for work we stayed a little while then came home to our trailer. Bill read the paper on the computer, I made salad for tomorrow & that was about it.

Tomorrow I'm going to give Renee a perm in the morning & she's going to get her oil changed in her car after we are done & I'm bringing the boys back to the trailer to hang out. Since we are right on the bay/lake, they can feed the ducks or we can go swimming, depending on the weather.

I see the counter is ready to roll over!! WOW! If it's you, leave a comment & let me know!

So, until next time..................The Traveling Cardinal's

What a Monday Morning!!!!

I hope every father out there had a wonderful Father's Day! Bill & I went to George's Restaurant in Virginia Beach for breakfast buffet. It was very good, reasonable & a nice clean restaurant. We walked the beach boardwalk for a little bit, but we were over dressed & it was getting pretty hot. Since we had rode the bus again, we came back to the campground to change clothes intending to go back. The sky looked pretty black again, but after checking the Internet & no forecast for rain, we took the bus back down. They were having an art show along the boardwalk. Only one really turned me on! A lady from Alexandria, VA does Scherenschnitte, which translates as scissor cuttings. If anyone looked up Mr. Lee on my blog, you would have seen something very similar. Her web site is www.main.nc.us/openstudio/MHGrabman. Check it out. The pictures aren't big, but they are awesome. If I would have had $1000 - $2000 to throw out, I would have bought one! She learned this time-consuming art from her grandmother.

We headed back to the trailer around 6pm to rest. The evening went fast, since I was working on the computer!

This morning we had a very frightful awakening!!! Someone was pounding on our trailer door at 4AM! I thought it might be Mark on his way to work, but I didn't think he would do that & scare us to death. We hollered out "Who is it?" And they replied "Fire!! Fire!!" We thought it was our trailer so Bill went to the door in his BVD's & they said no, it was the cafe by the laundry mat behind us. I thought it was funny we didn't hear our smoke alarm go off. Since it wasn't our trailer, I took time to get dressed quickly.

After going outside & seeing the embers flying over us, we decided to put things away as quickly as we could & put the slides in so we could pull it out if we had to. I forgot there was the grill on the little table under the front living room slide & it wouldn't shut all the way. When I opened the door & saw it, I had to put the slides back out & in again. Might know, that was the last one to open! I bent it back in & closed them up. Well, once you start the slides in, there is no more seal around them until they are closed, so the smoke came in the trailer! Yuk!!! They got the fire under control & we didn't have to move, so I put things back & went around later & sprayed Febreeze.

I called Mark to ask him if we could use his washer/dryer & since he didn't answer I just left a short message (to save cell time.) I guess I wasn't thinking that he would be worried that I called at 5AM!!! When we finally made connections, he wasn't too happy with me. Oh well, someday he will get old too!!!

Here are some pictures of the fire & afterwards:
This is looking at the laundry/cafe/game room right behind our trailer. That is the corner of our trailer In the pictures with one of the ladder trucks behind us.
Virginia Beach Fire Dept. Ladder Truck

And our trailer

What you can see of the fire & the firemen.

Trucks & fire

Looking toward our trailer

Taken out our back living room window. Fire was around the corner to the left. They were afraid it would spread to the laundry room which is on the right of the picture.

Another fire truck on the other side of the play ground where Samuel plays when he comes. This is out our kitchen window.

One of the ladder trucks leaving. This is one where the truck steers the truck & the guy in the back steers the ladder part. I just hope they all turn the same way!!!

The Fire Investigator is there & they start knocking it down so they can try to see where it started. Bill thinks it might have been in the hood exhaust fan.

What a mess to sort through.

This is a police woman who had to crawl up the ladder over top of the remains to take pictures for the investigation.

I've taken a couple more pictures of them bringing in the big dumpster & placing it in the area beside our trailer. They did move it closer to the site though. I haven't downloaded those pictures yet.

Bill had a doctor appt. at 10AM so we took showers & got out of there. After his appt. we checked at a Firestone store to see if they had 2 more truck tires like we got in Oklahoma so we can get those on tomorrow morning. Now we'll be ready for PA State Inspection the day after we get to Renee's.

We are now at Mark's getting our laundry done. I washed all my afghans just to make sure there was no smoke smell in them. Hopefully it will all get aired out soon. My throat still burns some this afternoon, but I'm sure that will go away too.

Bill got a good report from the doctor. He even lost 4 pounds!!!! He says "Big Deal", but I think that's great. Better than gaining 4 pounds since last October!

So, that's our day! Until next time...............The Traveling Cardinal's

Let's Try a Little Update from Virginia Beach

Wednesday afternoon after grocery shopping we sent to visit my great-niece, Traci. When I called her she told us it was her dance recital that night. We decided to go watch it since we didn't have anything else planned. She used to take Tap lessons when she was a little gal, but since she has a friend who dances & teaches, she talked Traci into coming back & dancing again. Great exercise! So here we are. This is before she danced.
We even saw belly dancers! At our age? No way!

Now these were some cuties!

The middle of the program the Lakewood Ballet Co. presented "Graduation Ball". The ballet follows the happenings of a Viennese girl's boarding school to which cadets from a military college are invited to celebrate with a Graduation Ball. Was very entertaining with a combination of beauty & humor.

This was Traci's first dance. It was a Hip Hop - Super Divas & she wasn't exactly excited about doing it. She said it "was not her thing". Her aunts & Grandma will get a kick out of seeing the pictures though. Too bad Mom doesn't have a PC!

This was her second dance - Adult Tap III. Dance was suppose to depict a picnic. Each had a Tupperware dish.

Thursday night Bill & I decided to take the bus that comes to the campground down to the beach since we hadn't been there yet. There was a threat of thunderstorms, but we had been lucky all day & hadn't gotten any, so we decided to go. We walked along the boardwalk until it began to thunder & then lightning & decided we'd better head for a restaurant. While we were eating it really stormed. There were tornado warnings (& I thought we were out of "tornado alley"!!!). If you've never experienced a thunderstorm in a city that is sea level, you are missing the flooding! The water has no where to go. We were thankful we didn't drive. The bus picked us up right outside the restaurant. We were glad we had taken our umbrellas too! The wind & the down pour was torrential! When we got back to the trailer we had to walk through a swimming pool to get to the door. There was a sighting of a tornado/water spout over Chesapeake Bay, but it never hit land.

Friday, we picked up the grand kids around 9:30am & headed out to the Virginia Zoological Park. I think it was a little boring for Samantha as she had been there several times on school trips, but it was Samuel's first time. I think we all had a good time though.

After our tail-gate picnic. Samuel & Samantha

Samuel thought the Prairie Dogs were cute & interesting. You could go down underneath the exhibit & see them from the bottom. There were 4 little bubbles where the little kids could stand & see from the ground up.

2 Bald Eagles

Samuel & Samantha on the bronze Rhino

One of our cuties!

Samuel with the giraffe behind him.

We then went on a 10 min. train ride. Quite a bit of the zoo is under construction, so we didn't see a whole lot. This zoo isn't very big either.

Samuel & Papa.

Our 2 clowns, Samuel & Samantha

A perfect place to cool off. The kids have a great time running through & playing in the fountains.

A pose with Grandpa.

That ended our trip to the zoo. We came back to the trailer & Mark joined us for hot dogs & picnic supper. Then we all visited & Samuel played with some kids at the campground at the playground & Samantha & I went for a bike ride.

It was a great day for us as we enjoy being with our grand kids! We don't get to see them much & they grow so fast. We cherish every minute with them. I swear they grew 5 inches since last fall!

So, until next time............The Traveling Cardinal's

3rd Day in Virginia Beach, VA

Going to write a short note to see if I can screw this one up!

This is our 3rd day in V. Beach & it's cloudy & breezy. Only 69 deg. this morning. Can you believe we haven't even gone down to the beach yet??? That used to be the first place we headed!! Must have spent too much time in the desert this past winter! Afraid of big bodies of water? Don't think so!

Mark, our son, stopped in last night on his way home from the ship for about 15 minutes. It was good to see him, but hard to visit for such a short time. He is working 12 hr. days/6 days a week. So I don't think we will see him much this week & a half. Won't see him for over a year after we leave here this time. He will be out on ship this fall before we go back to Arizona & will be out 7 months starting the end of December. I'm sure he wants to spend all the time with his kids & wife as he can. He looked good, but tired.

I tried adding pictures but can't drag & drop like I used to do either, so until I feel like messing around with this blog, there won't be many pictures. If I do, it will be short & sweet!

Today I guess we need to hit Walmart for some groceries. Then I need to call my Great Niece, Traci to say Hi & see when we can get together.

So, until next time..............The Traveling Cardinal's

Greetings from Virginia Beach, VA with Updates

Okay folks, that's it! I just wasted 5 hours - 2-1/2 putting pictures of Colonial Williamsburg into my blog, & a whole afternoon of writing (about 2-1/2 hrs.) & I lost it all again. Every time I try to change the font!

If anyone has any suggestions, PLEASE let me know, I'm ready to cry. Therefore, you will NOT see any of the last 3 days of our trip. I refuse to do this again.

So.........until next time (maybe).............The Traveling Cardinal's

Greetings from Williamsburg, VA

Ok guys, it happened again!!!!! I just wrote a whole post updating you where we were & what we did for the past two days. No pictures, that was to come in the next day or two.

I changed the font & the whole post disappeared. I did it again. When it said do you want to navigate away from the page without saving I said no. DUMB, DUMB me!!!! That meant no going back. I lost the whole thing!

So, until next time in a better mood...............The Traveling Cardinal's

PS We are in Williamsburg, VA until tomorrow morning. We will then travel to Virginia Beach. Now you know where we are!

Richmond, Virginia, Maymont Mansion

Today Bill & I started out by going to McGeorge's Rolling Hills RV Store for a couple of screws for our ladder. We figured if they didn't have them we could always go to Lowe's. Well, after spending money on a folding step, a new slinky for the sewer hose, toilet paper that was on sale, we came out with 2 bags, a box & no screws. So off to Lowe's we go. The picture below is right across the street that goes to McGeorge's & the entrance street to Bass Pro Shop where we went yesterday. After securing the needed screws at Lowe's (Thank you Bob - our friend from Ashland that works there), we set out for Richmond to see if we could find our way around a little. This man on a horse looked like he was riding out of the sky right down Rt. 161. Bill snapped the picture & found out it was Stonewall Jackson. (statue of course!) But look at the trees, you can tell how big it was!

This is a typical colonial style home here in Richmond. Can't you just place yourself back in that time period?

Another statue Bill snapped Upon a closer look we found it was Christopher Columbus.

We finally arrived at our destination - Maymont, A Gilded Age Estate on 100 acres of beautiful gardens, park, arboretum. In it's prime, it was cared for by 40 gardeners/caretakers. Again, I'm sorry you can only see pictures of outside, once we got to the home where the real beauty lay, you couldn't take any pictures. Snookie, where are you when I need you???? There was only our tour guide, Don, Bill & I, a babysitter & 3 elementary children in our group. There was no "hip shooting" here!

This was one of the beautiful gardens behind the Carriage House. Beautiful lilies

I only snapped this picture because those of you back home reading this will know why. Betsy Adams was the name of a neighbor girl where I grew up. Her father sang at Bill's & my wedding.

The following pictures depict the mode of travel during this era. They were absolutely gorgeous. Very well taken care of.

The sleigh had just been refurbished by the Amish of Pennsylvania. Bright colors were used so they would show up in the snow.

Look at that wax job!

I hope you can read most of the signs. I don't want to retype what is on them. It's going on 11pm!

Three other styles of horse drawn carriages.

The trees on the land were just beautiful & HUGE!

This is a side view of Maymont. It has 33 rooms in the mansion. It is a rare home in that no intervening families or adaptive conversion separate what we see now from the original owners 32 year occupancy.

The home was owned by James & Sallie Dooley. They lived in this home from 1893 until her death in 1925. The furnishings are almost all original, many from France & Italy. Mr. Dooley was known as the business leader of the New South. The area was a war-torn region & he provided major investments in rebuilding & linking small, scatter rail lines that had been destroy during the war. He knew what needed to be done to get the infrastructure of Virginia on the right track after the war & he had the means & the knowledge. He was very goal oriented. He was from a wealthy family & at the time of his death he left 3 Million Dollars to St. Joseph Orphanage. Also, the grounds & building were to become open to the public as a museum upon the death of his wife. She lived here until her death in 1925. Within 6 months the home was open to the pubic, March 1926. Mrs. Dooley loved gardens, writing poetry & stories. These writings expressed her passion & love of gardens. She, too, left a great deal of money to the Episcopal Church when she died.

You would be very impressed with the inside of this mansion. If you are ever in Richmond, VA, please visit. It was only a donation of $5.00/person & well worth the tour. Bill was very impressed!

This shows the portico where you would be let out of your carriage.

This is the side door where our tour began with Don, a former principal. Notice the lights at the side of the steps. I took a close up later.

This was a side/front view.

One of the many gazebos on the property.

Another huge tree called a Deodar Cedar.

Looking toward the top

A close up of the ornate wrought iron lights.

Our guide told us many, many interesting facts both about the home & the life style of the wealthy, social families that visited the Dooley's.

That about ends our day. It was very hot & humid again today. My ankles & feet are swollen by the end of the day! Time to go to bed & put them up!

Tomorrow we will be going to Scotchtown with our friend Linda A. to see where Patrick Henry lived from 1771 to 1777.

So, until next time.................The Traveling Cardinal's